It was nearly pitch black — despite being past nine o’clock in the morning — as I drove the long highway into town for a dentist appointment. Only the beam of my headlights allowed me to see the next few feet in front of me. There weren’t even any street lights to light the way.
During the deepest part of winter in the interior of Alaska, the sun doesn’t peek above the horizon until nearly noon. Even then, it swiftly runs back into hiding just a couple of hours later. This near-constant darkness is disorienting at first, but it’s amazing how quickly it becomes normal. Many people head to work or school in the dark and return home without ever having seen the light of day.
That day, as I drove to town in the blustery blackness, I was unaware of just how accustomed to the lack of sunlight I had become. I fully expected to drive home in that same darkness, so when I climbed back into the car, I was not looking for the light. But as I pulled onto the highway, I was suddenly stunned by the beautiful scene surrounding me. Sprawling fields stretched on for miles under a blanket of freshly fallen snow, glistening in the light. Majestic mountain peaks towered in the distance, painted in pastel pinks and blues, all lit up golden by the morning sun. Suddenly, I could see!
Like a long winter, the darkness of the world we live in can wear on our souls and obscure our vision. We grow discouraged by endless responsibilities and setbacks, by sin and sadness and a world that seems to be growing darker by the day. We keep marching onward, of course. But, because we’ve been living under a cloud of darkness for so long, eventually we start to forget that a future filled with joy and light is not only possible but promised. Is something better really coming?
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